is our last meeting of 2012. >> commissioner yee? >> yes, go ahead? >> just an update, we wanted to remove an update on student nutrition services and will be taken up at a special meeting next week. >> thank you.. so i will move on to item c, recognition and resolutions of commendation. the first one is an commendation of "the world as it could be," human rights

education program on the occasion of the 2012 international human rights day. offered by commissioners murase and mendoza. >> is there a motion? >> so moved. >> second. >> reading of the resolution by commissioner murase or mendoza. >> whereas san francisco became the birth place of the united nations with the signing of the u.n. charter at the war memorial veterans building in 1945 and annually december 10th marks international human rights day to celebrate the universal declaration of human rights, the first achievement. united nations. and whereas the san francisco-based foundation founded by the legendary rock band the grateful dead has advanced education about the universal declaration of human rights among youth and adults called the world it's could

be." and whereas by delivering human rights curriculum to the creative arts the groundbreaking curriculum is designed to engage youth, inspire learning and critical thinking and positive social interaction, encourage youth who are often marginalized due to learning or physical differences to enjoy participation in school-wide events, engage the broader community to celebrate accomplishments of youth and showcase the importance and value of creative arts to personal development and vibrant culture. providing collaboration opportunitis among non-profits, public universities and schools. and commissioner mendoza, if you would like to read the rest it of a will read the next one. >> it also offers a three-day summer institute, hosted by usf annually and free of charge. i am hoping that teachers are listening to this program tonight, so they can sign up so

learn for example teachers of academic subjects, social studis, language, arts and how to implement arts into the teaching of the universal declaration of rights. therefore be it are resolved that the san francisco unified school district board of education commends that "the world it's could be," supporters and organizers on the occasion of the 2012 international human right s day. [ applause ]. >> let's us vote first. roll call, please -- or any other comments on this? commissioner mendoza? >> i wanted to thank sandy and the recs foundation and if you

think about as something this complex can be interpreted through the arts and performed by students on the stage in the auditorium, you walk away breathless and it's remarkable. it's an incredible interpretation of some amazing work that we have done in our country and i just want to appreciate the translation that you have done of the work, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on our schools. >> if you haven't had a chance to get out there to see it, please do [stkpwhro*-frplt/] thank you, roll call please (roll call ) six ayes. >> thank you. >> is there a presentation of the certificate, commissioners murase and mendoza?

>> i am sandy, the executive director of the recs foundation and it is a great honor to be here tonight to receive this. i want to start by thanking commissioner mendoza. i was actually in the spring in 2006, when we came to her office and said we have this idea. it's an original production that we wanted to raise awareness about the human rights framework and we wanted youth to be the teachers and we were showcasing the terrific work of high schoolers at destiny arts and youth speaks. it was commissioner mendoza who called over to balboa high school, and said would you be

interested in hosting this presentation? and so began what has now led to this incredible evening. and the whole idea has been we've learned in our work that the universal declaration of human rights that eleanor roosevelt shepherded and adopted bit general assembly 64 years ago is actually not known by a large proportion of our population. and we also found that when youth and adults found out about it, they got very excited and, in fact we got the name because someone said my goodness this document spells out the world it's could be. it has been the creative spirit of the administrators and students at balboa that have really brought this to life. we're now, i just got to see on friday, their third student-produced assembly about the universal declaration of human rights and it's breathtaking to see how their whole culture has taken on this

path and that they are setting an example for how to help us bring forward eleanor roosevelt's work and make it continually relevant to the world today. i would love to have you here from kevin curr, the principal of balboa and oxy trejos, sr. to explain what it is to them. thank you so much. >> good evening commissioners. superintendent. you know, we live in kind of a high-stakes world in high schools. whether it's the california standards test, ap testing, sat. these are very important parts of just kind of growing up as a student now in our kind of complex world. but it's nice on occasion to kind of step back, and remind us of what life is really all about. and this idea of really teaching kids that human rights

is not just something that lives in a far-off, distant land, but something that they need to shepherd themselves and protect in their own communities. so i couldn't be more proud of the work we do in regards to the universal declaration of human rights. i cordially invite you, a little less than 350 days from now, to attend our next assembly. it was really an incredible experience for all of us. there was a moment when we had our choir sing the last selection from "les mis." that was enough for me and i had to step out and compose myself because it was such a moving experience. i did bring with me today oxy, who is a senior and who was our master of ceremonies at the assembly and i wanted her to talk a little bit about her experience with the universal

declaration of human rights. >> hi, guys. i don't know the proper way to say hi. so i'm just going to say hi to all of you guys. so i was the mistress of ceremonies, and it was a little hard, because you know, as a student in the assembly myself, i never really understood what it was about. i understood that i had rights and i made it my personal mission to make sure that students in the assembly knew exactly what they were hearing and didn't leave with questions. what we did was we played videos and we had people from pathways -- we have pathways at our school that have specific goals around the same purpose. and a lot of people were really engaged and had a lot of students usually at our assemblies of course.

there are students who don't understand, but at this assembly, everybody was paying attention. people were engaging. people were moved. i think that teaching students this on a regular basis every year as part of their classes is something that should happen, something that shouldn't be just at balboa or in san francisco, but all over the world. you know, because these are our rights and people know that they have rights. they just don't know what they are and because they don't know what they are, they take them for granted. this assembly really brought up a lot of points that people needed to know. our students now, i hear them talking about it all the time in the hallways. they are like oh, my god, oxy, it was amazing, but what does this mean? they will come to me and saying we have these rights and i am, like, yes, you have these rights, guys. just because you are minors doesn't mean anything. so i think it was a really good thing that this program was founded and i thank you for

that. thank you, guys. [ applause ] >> if i could just say thank you to commissioner murase, who took the time to learn more about the program and went through all the effort to recognize us. thank you. we look forward to being part of the school district work in bringing the arts and human rights together. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. there is another commendation here. this one is for the world savvy and their work supporting students and staff at the san francisco unified school district, [pr-ebts/]ed by commissioner mendoza.

>> so moved. >> second. >> reading of the resolution by commissioner mendoza. >> thank you president yee. so this evening i would like to honor world savvy and their work supporting students and staff at the san francisco unified school district. where since 2002 world savy has delivered youth engagement programs for global compentecy through project-based learning, collaborative problem-solvinging and experiential and service learning and international exchange. all of world savvy's youth engagement programs include coaching for partner educators whereas the world savvy program brings u.s. participants abroad for a cross-cultural exchange. these schiansing unite u.s. students and educators with residents of host countries to

explore one another's culture and critical global issues such as climate change food security. additionally, the program is provided at no cost to the participants and is funded by the world savvy and u.s. department of state. whereas world savvy has reached more than 250,000 youth and 2000 educators, 90% of teachers surveyed agreed that students' knowledge and understanding of the complexities and interdependence of world events and issues increased through participation in the program. a total of 80% of educators indicate an increase of the world's geography and saw significant growth in their students' critical thinking skills. whereas world savvy has honored the find sf students and educate colors have completed a very competitive process and accepted to the international leadership exchange, where they will have an opportunity to travel to bangladesh.

three of the students chosen nationally came from sfusd. . ( listing students ) i just wanted to acknowledge amanda, who was a recipient last year and jasper, a teacher at mission high school, also known as jay. so i would like to -- well, therefore be it resolved that the board of education of the san francisco unified school district recognized world savvy for its contributions to san francisco unified school district and the global community. and we congratulate our youth leaders and teacher and wish them a safe and exciting journey to bangladesh. and we have to vote on this first and then i will introduce

who is going to come up. >> roll call. >> miss lee? >> yes. >> miss wong? >> yes. >> miss fewer? >> yes. >> miss murase? >> yes. >> miss mendoza? >> yes. >> dr. murase? >> yes. >> miss norton. >> mr. yee. >> seven ayes. >> i would like to bring up laura, who is going to be traveling to bangladesh and is the project coordinator on this and also amy, who is here based here in san francisco. and i would also like to ask the students to come up and join them. they have four days before they leave for bangladesh. they leave saturday morning to washington, d.c. to meet their other colleagues, 30 other students out of the 120 that

applied. and they will go from d.c. to -- you guys are flying into -- to dubai and from dubai into dhaka. and they will spend four weeks in bangladesh, two weeks with a host family. a week in the man groves in the forest on a boat and a week doing service learning. congratulations. dana, or laura, if you would like to come up and say a little something. >> hi. i am the international program manager at world savvy. i was introduced to this organization because my roommate several years ago pulled me out of bed on a saturday at 7:00 a.m. and when i got there i was amazed